The Smiles Across America® Capacity Building Project Grant application is now available on OHA’s website. Grants ranging from $5,000-$20,000 will be awarded for the 2015-2016 school year to support community-based oral health preventative services programs that provide care to children in school-based or school-linked settings. Grant applications are due by March 13—learn more and download the application on OHA’s grants webpage.

OHA’s 25th Annual Gala & Benefit takes place at 6 p.m. February 25 at the beautiful Hilton Chicago, serving as both a major fundraiser for OHA’s programs and the networking event of the year for the dental industry. This year’s gala celebrates OHA’s 60th anniversary and will feature a presentation highlighting the organization’s milestones over six decades and the work OHA continues to do to connect communities with resources to increase access to care and health literacy. We look forward to seeing you at the gala!

Dental sealants are proven to prevent childhood tooth decay, but school-based sealant programs sometimes struggle to reach the children who are most at risk. Following the release last year of its CDC-funded report on challenges facing these programs, the Children’s Dental Health Project will convene a work group to update scientific and clinical guidelines, some of which are 20 years old. OHA agrees that updating these guidelines is a priority for strengthening school-based sealant programs and awarded the Children’s Dental Health Project a $10,000 grant to support this important work. Tina Montgomery,Program Manager for Smiles Across America®, will be a member of the task force for this important initiative.

Above is a list of donors who gave a gift to Oral Health America between December 8, 2014 and February 18, 2015. If your name should have been included, please contact Brad McLaughlin, Development Director, at Brad.McLaughlin@oralhealthamerica.org or 312-836-9900.

Seventy percent of older Americans do not have dental insurance, which means their access to a dentist might be limited. However, they may interact with pharmacists on a regular basis, making pharmacists an ideal resource for oral health education. Find out about resources OHA is developing specifically for pharmacists through a new initiative from the Wisdom Tooth Project®.

The results are in for the Tooth Wisdom: Get Smart About Your Mouth pilot! Find out how the oral health education workshop series impacted older adults across Chicago and how new grant funding will help OHA expand the program in 2015.

]]>http://oralhealthamerica.org/news/older-adult-workshops-impact-oral-health-literacy/feed/0Smiles Across America Granteeshttp://oralhealthamerica.org/enewsarticle/smiles-across-america-grantees/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=smiles-across-america-grantees
http://oralhealthamerica.org/enewsarticle/smiles-across-america-grantees/#commentsWed, 14 Jan 2015 00:14:51 +0000http://oralhealthamerica.org/?p=7836SAA hopes to continue growing and reaching more children with oral care and education. The following organizations were awarded grants for the 2014-2015 school year:

Last month OHA celebrated a decade of Smiles Across America® (SAA) and its partnership with Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Department of Public Heath by hosting Celebrating Smiles for Health, a health resource fair at Columbus Elementary School. In addition to a formal presentation and brush-a-thon, the celebration included free vision and dental screenings, flu shots and opportunities to learn about exercise and healthy eating. SAA first provided funding to the Chicago Department of Public Health for its sealant program for Chicago Public School students in 2004.

The anniversary program included remarks by Dr. Stephanie Whyte, Chief Health Officer for Chicago Public Schools, Dr. Bechara Choucair, Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, OHA’s Beth Truett and Columbus Elementary School principal Wendy Oleksy. “Schools are the center of communities and we focus on educating students, but we know that healthy students are better learners,” said Dr. Whyte at the event. “To be here today to celebrate this work is an honor and I look forward to reaching more kids.”

Above is a list of donors who gave a gift to Oral Health America between November 19, 2014 and December 17, 2014. If your name should have been included, please contact Brad McLaughlin, Development Director, at Brad.McLaughlin@oralhealthamerica.org or 312-836-9900.

OHA teamed up with Give Kids a Smile, 3M ESPE, the ADA Foundation, Henry Schein, Inc., CareCredit and Church and Dwight throughout 2014 for the “Brush With Biff” program, which brought oral health education to 11 NASCAR racetracks with Greg Biffle. In addition, OHA organized oral health education events at five Title 1 schools.Check out a collection of photos from this year’s NASCAR events and see how excited kids got about oral health!